Whats Wrong With Clay Matthews?

What do you think is wrong with Clay Matthews? I have a couple theories but would like to hear from you guys as well. He just isnt the playmaker he was last year. I know its early so maybe something will change.

Nothing is wrong with Clay Matthews. He's not putting up the sacks, stats and numbers that make your eyes bug out of your head but that doesn't mean he isn't involved on every play. I think they are using him more as a disturbance in The Force. He creates havoc for offensive line coordinators trying to game plan against him. Or perhaps they are better equipped to game plan against him as this is his 3rd year in the league and we no longer have the element of surprise. They often double, triple cover him too and all that does is free up one or two Packers to make plays. Injuries may also play a factor.

He may not of started off the season with 6 sacks, but do not let that fool you. Numbers are very deceptive and don't tell the full story. Matthews is relentless on every play. If you want and you have access to it, put up some game footage at random and watch him on the attack.

Or maybe he's just having a bad hair day, literally. That's what's wrong with him. It's the hair.

I don't know what's wrong with him, but I'd like to see him go back to ROLB instead of the left side where he normally is, and just see what happens. The only time I see him in the QB's face is when he's not even blocked it seems. All the 3 man rushes on 3rd down doesn't help him either. It puts him alone against 2 guys usually. I'd like to see more 3 down lineman + Clay. I bet his productivity will increase then.

I'll say this though, he looks improved against the run, and it shows in our team being the #1 ranked against the run.

Yea, he gets double teamed a lot, but a lot of times he is just one on one, and he's gone against all rookies/backups I believe so far. He should be doing better, IMO.

There is nothing wrong with him. He is a freaking monster, did you watch him single handedly dismantle the bears oline on like a dozen plays? He damn near took the hand off from cutler twice. and most importantly is taking up two or sometimes 3 blockers. If two linemen and a RB/TE are blocking him it gives Wynn a great chance at making an impact on a weekly basis and also allows Raji to as distruptive as possible up the middle.

Plus you have to look at how many times has he drawn extremely blatant holding penalties that if played legally would have resulted as sacks. I can think of 3 off the top of my head, which would bring his sack total to 4 in 3 games. Not too shabby

That's another bloody thing. Notice how much holding goes uncalled? I'm talking blatantly obvious holding that even Ray Charles would of seen, God rest his soul. It makes me madder than hell to think of how many sacks and tackles he gets robbed of because of that! Not the ones that get called, at least we get redemption for that in some form, but the ones that don't. Do you recall one of the games against either the Bears or Vikings, I think it was the Vikings, where Clay was being held constantly and nobody was calling it. I think it was the game where he lost his lid and went running across the field and all the Vikings(?) fans wanted a penalty for him taking his lid off on the field.

I agree there is nothing wrong with him. I read (and I believe quoted on this forum) that going into the game yesterday, the Packers had 15 QB hits. Clay was responsible for 8 of those. If you can find stats on QB hurries, I'll bet Clay shows up big in that category too. Ask Matt Forte what's wrong with Matthews and I'll bet you'll get a quizzical look from him on the order of 'are you NUTS?'

I think teams are more weary of him now and are doing everything they can to stop him. I think things will go better once we get So'oto healthy just because if everyone is bothering with Matthews and a new guy steps up and they start blocking him, Matthews may get less double teams.

Clay Matthews is getting beat ONE ON ONE by below avg NFL tackles the past two weeks. straight up.

This is what I call the "Brett Favre syndrome" its where a fan base makes unrealistic excuses for their favorite player and turn a blind eye to reality. God knows we all did it with Brett a number of times.

By no means am I saying he is a bad player, I am saying he is just slightly above avg right now. Not, runner up for DPOY great though. Not dominating like Trent Cole was against ATL or Freeney was last night against the colts. I dont think he has been the best player on defense this season in any game for the packers. Sorry but knowing what he has done in the past I expect more from him.

I agree there is nothing wrong with him. I read (and I believe quoted on this forum) that going into the game yesterday, the Packers had 15 QB hits. Clay was responsible for 8 of those. If you can find stats on QB hurries, I'll bet Clay shows up big in that category too. Ask Matt Forte what's wrong with Matthews and I'll bet you'll get a quizzical look from him on the order of 'are you NUTS?'

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I'd like to ask Cutler what's wrong with Matthews but I don't want to make Culter cry (again). The only people who need worry over Clay Matthews is the Denver Broncos O-Line and those thereafter. Us Pack got nothing to worry about as long as he's wearing the Green and Gold.

Clay Matthews is getting beat ONE ON ONE by below avg NFL tackles the past two weeks. straight up.

This is what I call the "Brett Favre syndrome" its where a fan base makes unrealistic excuses for their favorite player and turn a blind eye to reality. God knows we all did it with Brett a number of times.

By no means am I saying he is a bad player, I am saying he is just slightly above avg right now. Not, runner up for DPOY great though. Not dominating like Trent Cole was against ATL or Freeney was last night against the colts. I dont think he has been the best player on defense this season in any game for the packers. Sorry but knowing what he has done in the past I expect more from him.

will be excited to hear from Sparta, LT, and RS on this one.

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I'm not going to debate you with this topic because you've already got it into your head that he's not as good anymore simply by you looking at the sack total. All i know is that he is our only source of pass rush and without him we don't have the same defense. The stats may show 1 sack, but i see 4 or 5 in his name. Holding penalties/false starts/more than 1 blocker going against him are all bonuses to a defense as a whole.

I'm not going to debate you with this topic because you've already got it into your head that he's not as good anymore simply by you looking at the sack total. All i know is that he is our only source of pass rush and without him we don't have the same defense. The stats may show 1 sack, but i see 4 or 5 in his name. Holding penalties/false starts/more than 1 blocker going against him are all bonuses to a defense as a whole.

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I never said anything about sack totals.go back to the start do not collect $200

He seems to be going really wide which opens up a free lane for another defender to get at the QB but they don't seem to be sending the DB's much this year. Walden also needs to step it up on the other side. I would not be opposed to sending Hawk up the middle more often and letting Clay drop into coverage.

This is the exact debate that is going on over at cheeshead tv right now. No one is saying Clay Matthews is bad, just that he isn't playing like he did last season. Clay is actually still playing really well, creating lots of pressure, playing the run well, tackling well. But the fact is he is not making the plays he did last year. Yes he is getting double and triple teamed more than usual. But he also is not winning his one on ones. Two weeks in a row now he has had one on one opportunities against nobody right tackles, and he has not capitalized.

Like someone was saying above, people's homerism is not letting them accept that Clay isn't being the world beater they have known him to be. Again, no one is saying he is playing bad, or even not good. The argument is that he isn't doing what he did last year, and unfortunately I think its true. Now whether that is from an injury or something else who knows. I lean towards the former, and its still only been 3 games. His quad may be hampering him a bit, and if so, hopefully when it gets a little better Clay will be back demolishing QB's.

There is NOTHING wrong with Clay. he is getting Chiped, Double and triple teamed on almost every play. He is a disruptive force on every play, he provides the one on ones for the other players to exploit. He never ever gives up on a play and as soon as we get somebody that offenses worry about as much as him you are going to see his sacks go up. Remember he got almost half of his sacks in the first 3 games last year. Then Offensive coordinators started game planing him. Wait till Neal comes back.

I never said anything about sack totals.go back to the start do not collect $200

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OK, Obi Wan, quit holding us in riveting suspense and tell us your theories! If there is any merit to what you are claiming, I'd place my bets on lingering injuries. That's the only thing that could hold him back. Either that or Capers is monkeying with the schematics. But I would hear your theories on this in a bit more elaborate detail as to WHY you think it's occurring, not just listing his mistakes. I will say this, I respect your opinion on this forum perhaps above all others, no offense to anyone else, it's just that you tend to call things as they are, not by sugar coating. If this was coming from almost anyone else, I would disregard it entirely, but to be honest with you, I think you fell off the rocker with this one.

OK, Obi Wan, quit holding us in riveting suspense and tell us your theories! If there is any merit to what you are claiming, I'd place my bets on lingering injuries. That's the only thing that could hold him back. Either that or Capers is monkeying with the schematics. But I would hear your theories on this in a bit more elaborate detail as to WHY you think it's occurring, not just listing his mistakes. I will say this, I respect your opinion on this forum perhaps above all others, no offense to anyone else, it's just that you tend to call things as they are, not by sugar coating. If this was coming from almost anyone else, I would disregard it entirely, but to be honest with you, I think you fell off the rocker with this one.

Too many people look at glamour stats and then when they aren't being put up, they deduce the player is no good. I watched Clay the majority of the time when the defense was on the field and he was getting double and triple teamed just about every single time. He is only human. He will adjust sooner or later.

To anyone who doesn't think there's something wrong with Clay: Re-watch the game and plat attention to him at all times.

The explosion and power is not there.

I don't know why. His AMAZING instincts are the same, he still has his quickness (as shown in his 3 takcles for loss), and he's getting doubled and tripled team A LOT, specially when he stunts inside, as they know that a guard cannot block him in space.

Don't get me wrong, Clay is still playing very well. He's still making plays, and he's playing MUCH better in the running game.

But he is getting one-on-ones. And against some pretty bad OTs. And he's not winning them. He used to just explode off the snap, it is not happening anymore. He's still trying to bullrush sometimes, and when he puts all the effort, he can be explosive, but he is not at all times like before.

I really think this injury is worse and has been going on for much longer than we know. This weight loss could very well be a result of him not being able to work out properly.

I know PEDs are gonna be brought up, but he has been tested for them in the past and cleared up. Besides, I'm not sure that the stoppage of PEDs would only impair his explosion. I believe it would also affect his agility and quickness.

Clay actually is having a solid season, you're not hearing much of him because he's only got 1 sack so far this season, but as many people said it's still early in the season, and there are 13 games left. He's actually been a force to be reckoned with, he's freed up the left side, and has been disruptive on the line, and he's showing he's able to get to the backfield-- did you see when he stuffed Forte?

He should have had two sacks, in the game against the Saints he just missed Brees by a split second-- I wouldn't mind seeing him line up ROLB to mix things up as well. Next week they should move him around because he's going up against Ryan Clady and he's definitely one of the best tackles in the NFL.